Nu-Metallers Soul Destruction have pledged to provide ‘creative and experimental’ metal on this debut album. Some doodles drawn while listening to the results are instructive. ‘Suicides’ nooses combine with slit wrists and a caricature of a reviewer blowing his brains out. There is a rather jaunty werewolf, that was created while listening to Asomvel’s ‘Full Moon Dog’ in a break after track 4 before returning with a groan to duty and track 5. After that it is all womb symbols. In death metal reducing the listener to state of depressed hatred can be good or bad. In Nu-Metal it isn’t positive.
Opening track ‘A New Religion’ starts promisingly. Some solemn mumblings about a new religion evoke the late lamented Kill II This. Then it kicks into a chugging riff which gets the pulse racing. So far, so awesome. From that point - 36 seconds in – it is constantly downhill. Next we have a breakbeat that Soul Destruction think is ‘innovative’. It is that one that every Nu band has used since Korn and Limp Bizkit ripped it off Crowforce in the late 1990s. There is also a poorly-executed shouty verse, followed by a bit which goes ‘Bleurgh! Bleurgh!’. Then – just to be super-original – Soul Destruction change from a distorted verse to a clear chorus. It is only marginally more ham-fisted because vocalist Mark Susans sings it out of key. The Crapness! THE CRAPNESS! It staggers painfully on and on. A duff solo is followed by a desperately annoying guitar part purloined from the vile Missy Elliott. Three minutes fifty six seconds feels shorter for Guantanamo water boardees. That’s the second best song on the album.
Second track ‘Spiral of Violence’ again starts promisingly with some psychedelic meandering, before guitarist David Hobbs suddenly blasts into a fantastic rolling White Zombie riff. He later undermines this moment of cool by using exactly the same riff in the same key for two other songs. The following chorus is incredibly tired. It is also Marilyn Manson’s ‘The Fight Song’, but with the wit carefully extracted. In fact ‘Spiral of Violence’ sums up the plethora of problems with this album. Bereft of any originality of their own Soul Destruction have extensively plundered the Nu-Metal genre, each song being a poorly executed facsimile of something by a superior outfit. Worse, none of it is even faintly entertaining. The purloined riffs seem to have been selected on the basis of hideousness. The songs each consist of two of these, stitched together in an ‘ah fuck it’ll do’ way. The choruses are derivative and predictable. Tracks four and five for instance are identical.
So what is it about Soul Destruction which is stopping them hitting the spot? Unfortunately nigh on everything. Mark Susans has nothing to offer. He can’t sing, and is incapable of producing any aggression on the shouted parts. His negative charisma weighs down the entire album extracting all life from the songs, and converting the chopping and rolling guitar riffs into a series of empty dirges. This emptiness is then exaggerated by his lyrics, which are spiritless doggerel.
Soul Destruction sound like every other Nu-Metal band, and you will be stunned to hear they are unhappy about an inarticulately expressed something-or-other. Primarily they distrust religion and are miffed people don’t like them. Attacking Christianity I can understand but Susan’s retarded ‘Jesus fucks you’ choruses are unlikely to send the bearded bastards scuttling back to their pointy loser collection facilities. He also bleats feebly about how nice girls don’t like him and he feels a bit sad and stuff. Of grave concern at the age of 12, but having passed 30 when you are supposed to be a LORD OF METAL? Harden the fuck up Susans!
The guitar and drum tracks are equally devoid of originality, passion or skill. Standout track ‘Modern Day Freakshow’ is well written. It was well written by Disturbed in fact, and is another note for note copy. David Hobbs’ cello parts make for a few interesting moments suggesting Apocalyptica. Aside from that there are just stings in the tail. They have had the gall to add a hidden track, so you actually have to wait to hear the end of the dreadful dirge ‘The Sorrow’. This is also po-faced Metal at it’s most humourless. The cover photos from Tuoi Sieng are accompanied by a patronising command to ‘take time to find out more’. We are idiots remember.
Soul Destruction are a million miles from being the worst band ever (The Lunachicks), the most inept live (Winterfylleth) or the worst musicians (Babes in Toyland) but have still achieved total mediocrity. Considering the paucity of talent on display the future should rightfully be bleak.
http://www.souldestruction.co.uk
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